WHERE DOES THE GEORGIA LOSS RANK?
There’s not much left to say after Croatia’s 1-0 loss to Georgia on Saturday. Croatia played uninspired, without urgency and most importantly couldn’t get the ball into the net. Credit must be given to Georgia as they bunkered well and did not let the Vatreni get a solid look on goal. However, were the correct tactics deployed?
We knew Georgia would bunker and we still went up the middle. Croatia did not spread the field out by making passes up the sidelines and could not finish the few chances they received in the box. Georgia converted the one chance they had (and only shot on goal in the game) in the 91st minute when the Croatian defense completely fell asleep and let Georgian Levan Kobiashvili roam into the box unmarked for the late game-winner.
EURO 2012 GROUP F STANDINGS
What does Croatia do now? Was it just an off game or does leadership, Slaven Bilic, need to be replaced? The team looked uninspired and without spirit today. What is the solution?
GEORGIA STICKS IT TO CROATIA
Its excellent as your other content : D, thanks for putting up. “Say not, ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth.'” by Kahlil Gibran.
Hello Georgian fan! Great to have you chime in. Great win for Georgia, dont shoot yourself short. Georgia have a great chance to get a result in Croatia. I wouldnt mind if we both qualify. Much respect, good luck the rest of the way.
Hi, my friens. I'm GEORGIAN!
You have tne better team, than GEORGIA is et the moment, but we had very solid team in 70-80-s, called DINAMO TBILISI! We will struggle in Split, I promise! Both of our nations has the spirit! I respect Croatians a lot! Course your fighting spirit.. I believe, we'll respect each other in Split – as we respected croatians and your national anthem in Tbilisi! Can't wish you good luck against us, but wish, than we both to qualify to euro 2012!
fuck russia..
shinobi……I agree that a change could be a good short-term move and a kick in the ass for these guys. But, Kovac is not the answer. He is the same as brining in Bilic. What is Bilic's biggest knock. His lack of experience and adjustments. So, how can you replace that with Kovac. You can't. if you replace Bilic, you replace him with someone who is 180 degrees the opposite, not with someone who is a clone.
Does anyone have a link where I can see this debacle on tape?
I've searched everywhere on the net, but cannot find it.
Bringing in a new coach even if hes raw like N.Kovac can sometimes rejuvenate and galvanize a team like you wouldnt believe mr. Ziva it has been proven many times in the history of sport, and a good assisstant can just give that little bit extra to the teams dynamics.
How about keep Bilic, but threaten his job. Get some journalists writing opinion columns in novi list. This guy needs some pressure applied maybe? If they fail to qualify, he's gone, but the game vs. Greece is of paramount importance now.
Soldo???? yeah, teams are beating down his door to hire him. You don't want Bilic (fair point), but you want to replace him with someone with as much or less experience. If a move is made to fire Bilic or he is replaced at the end of the qualification cycle, the new coach will not be a clone of Bilic. They would get an experienced coach.
Ivankovic would be an option, but to use his success (some would say lack of success) at Dinamo is the wrong criteria. Dinamo's results have been the same with Soldo, Jurcic, the mujo, Ivankovic. The measuring stick is what have any of these coaches done in europe with them. Not much, last I checked dinamo never got past the group phase of any competition.
@Ziva
It was quite evident they didn't want to win, I didn't need to examine there facial expressions,I could tell they didn't want it by there lack of pace/effort. They were flat and were flat because they knew a tie was good enough. Unfortunately, that didn't happen
they should get rid of bilic and replace him with soldo. soldo's 1st season at koln saw them have an almost unpenetrable defence. at least with soldo the nt will play with some discipline, something that is obviously lacking, and with the attacking talent we have, we'll be able to score plenty with that strong defence. if soldo was at a big club, they'd win everything. his style just needs some attacking flair and talent to be very successful, and that's something that we do have. anyway, lets be honest, even mandzukic is a better player than novakovic from koln, so soldo could create something out of the attacking talent we have, and we wouldnt ever have to worry about conceding goals like the one against georgia, he'd bring in a defensive discipline that'd make them almost robotic in defense.
They should hire Maradona
@ ziva
I absolutely DID see the lack of motivation from 4000 miles away, even on that shitty stream on my laptop. Everyone noticed that! Of course they wanted to win. Who doesn't? They just didn't play hard enough to do so. That stadium was packed and probably very intimidating, but that's still no excuse. I just hope this was one of those losses that becomes a wake up call!
In a weird way this loss is a blessing in disguise. The players for the rest of the qualifications will not take any team lightly anymore. I still think we will win the group and qualify for the Euros. This result was very lucky.
Bilic needs to go, but I doubt he is going to be fired.
If Bilic was replaced I think Branko Ivankovic should get a try. He did well with Iran, Dinamo and is doing well in China.
I would give him the nod or bring back Ciro he did wonders for BiH.
@ olly,
The picture of Klasnic on the ground is obviously from Euro 2008; after the Turkey loss. Caption reads, "Where does the Georgia loss rank?" It is surely up there with Turkey loss, Malta draw, France WC 98 loss (after being up 1) and possibly even Ecuador loss in 2002.
Klasnic should be in the squad over Mandzukic. No doubt bout it. Look what he does for Bolton, only playing the last 10-20 minutes of the match off the bench. He scores goals and has hlped Bolton to the FA Cup semifinals. You don't really need to be in great condition to play the last 15 minutes. He gets the results and most importantly scores goals in the dying seconds. Nickname: Killer. 'Nuff said.
@ Anonymous,
Van Gaal…good observation. However, HNS will not break bread for a coach of that caliber. $$$$$$$$$$$$ makes the world go round. Bring Ciro back. At least if we lose, he's the funnies motherf***** out there. He can put smiley face on Croatian people.
@ Runje Haters,
Come on! The guy could have grabbed a lawn chair, plopped it on the goal line and read a book during the first 90 minutes of this match. Our defense lets a Georgian attacker come into the box unmanned and rip a shot from 16 out without debate, and you blame Runje? Where the hell was captain Srna on the play? We could have put his picture on the side of a milk carton for the goal. Nowhere to be seen!
Srna flinches and gets megged on the play. Corluka is forced to leave the middle to help out and Georgia has a free man open. End of story. Remember when we all said that Srna can't play defense against the big European teams? Well, yesterday we learned that he can't play defense against the likes of Georgia either.
Guy doesn't deserve captaincy, but no one else does either. Everyone is just 'too cool' and calm on the team. No one yelling, no one showing emotion, no communication. Only guy I would nominate is Pletikosa. The guys is screaming the entire match. Shows leadership and has experience.
Over night I got a text message from God, and he told me that "controlling your own destiny" means not "shrugging incessantly" when asked questions about your team.
by the way, what makes me laugh even more is when the uniformed say something like, "they lacked motivation," "no heart,", etc…..Like you can see that on a bad tv signal or computer signal 4,000 miles away.
To say these guys did not want to win is wrong. Sometimes its not your day.
As predicted, the meltdown on this board is at comical levels.
it's more than Bilic and has been for the last two years. This has now gone on for 18 months. 18 months of inconsistent play. But, removing Bilic could be a short term solution depending on the replacement.
Many are critical of the formation. Not an issue to me. Quality players can play in any formation, especially against a lesser side. Bilic's fault is for the lack of adjustments during the game, at the half and the subs. The starting lineup was not an issue.
I see some of the uninformed want Kovac. Really?????
You cry that Bilic lacks experience and tactical knowledge but you want to replace him with the same exact thing. What experience and tactical knowledge would Kovac bring? If you want to make a move, you don't replace the problem with the same exact situation. And then I read why not bring Kovac into the team as an assistant coach to Bilic; basically a replacement for Zuti. If you guys honestly think brining in an assistant coach will make a difference, then we really don't have much to talk about.
What is evident is that a midfield of Kranjcar, Modric and Rakitic does not work. Like many of you I thought it would work against the lesser the squads, but it appears not. Modric and Kranjcar can play more effectively than Modric and Rakitic. Might be time for Rakitic to be on the bench and the first in for Modric or Kranjcar.
Still, as bad as it seems, we still control everything in our own hands
I also got a text message overnight from a a former player who is still tight with many of the current players. He made some interesting points and will discuss that in the next few games.
@ Anon (the latest one before this post)
Great analysis, you and the other recent analysis is very apt imo.
It all points to the coaching, as someone mentioned in the other stream, likely the performance on the field is a direct reflection of how the team trains and prepares. I'd bet that that slow "pass around" game is a direct result of the tempo of training. It's like a racehorse, you can't expect him to gallop well, if all that he's ever done is trot.
Please Slaven resign! You need time away, and the perspective that it will afford. You can come back and coach the team in 10 years, but if you stay much longer, you'll lose that opportunity too.
Johnny and many others above,
I dont know how many of you even watch the 08 qualifiers but let me tell you it was not a walk in the park to finish 1st. It took a lot of luck but it also took having one of the best players Croatia has had in recent times (Eduardo) having a 10/10 campaign and pretty much scoring some f$#king amazing goals.
Also, we simply were the underdogs and we played with much more intensity. Now the media has hyped us up to something we are not and it got to the players…they thought they were Spain and they could pass the ball around and with 1 moment of brilliance finish of a weak Georgia side….NOPE! They have to wake up and so do the people who think we are going to walk through the group. SURE, we had an easier group but that means nothing….it sure as hell does not mean we are going to have a perfect campaign and it sure as hell does not mean we are going to win easy…look at Greece vs Malta it took them 94' minutes to score. NO GAME IS A WALK IN THE PARK without hard work you DONT deserve to win and right now we are not working hard. No excuses the players in there respective clubs are doing great and in Croatia 0! I thought puttin on the checkers meant something but I dont know where these players heads are on games like this anymore.
I will say something Ciro….I wouldnt mind seeing him after Bilic is done whenever that may be!
You cant blame the strikers when you get no service at all. Petric was dropping so deep he was basically playing in midfield just to get touches. We played possession and we did nothing with it once again. We strung a few passes in defense and our build up in midfield and attack was non existent! Petric ran probably more than anyone yesterday…sure he was awful but he was playing out of his position and working hard something you cant say for the rest of the team.
This is the 2nd time I have seen this 433 formation in recent times and I have not been impressed with it one but. The players just roam around and do there own thing. No discipline to play what there role is. The effort seemed pedestrian at times at best…pass the ball and dont move? I mean it was shocking and lazy. I dont know but maybe we really cant play with Rakitic, Modric, and Kranjcar in the same midfield….just no width. Srna should move back to RM or Pranjic to LM…All I know is we need to have width on at least 1 side. We were never going to break them down through the middle it seemed and we literally put in 0 crosses. I thought Bilic was going to change to tactics to that at half but his subs were very wasteful and didn't change the game around 1 bit.
The loss bothers me but what bothers me even more is we just dont look good. Sure we get 4 vs czechs but we were out played. We are trying to play like Spain but we literally create almost no chances on a consistent basis. 2 shots in a half vs Georgia? Come On!!! We looked the same vs Israel and Greece. Kranjcar cant score blinders like he has every game. We have to score some garbage hard work goals. I think Jelavic is a big target man and if we are going to play with 1 striker he is a guy big enough to be able to manage it…although i prefer 2 strikers. We just have to mix our game up…we have to take it to the other team right away. Why pass the ball around from Corluka to Lovren 50 times and keep possession when we are looking to score?
I wasn't blaming Runje, but now that you mention it, maybe it's not such a bad idea, watch the replay man. The defense was lackadaisical, look at Corluka attempt to block the shot lol, look at Srna completely fooled. It was the 90th minute, maybe it was fatigue, there's really no excuse to allow that guy to shoot at all, but the shot was a joke and Runje was beaten on his near post – I think he overestimated Georgia's quality right there, guessing to his left. I just don't think it's the apocalypse that seems to happen when we don't dominate every performance. This blog is alarmist anytime there's a slip-up, it's the end of the world and Bilic "needs to go" talk is rampant. Maybe the reality is that the team is overvalued and as a unit, we're not as good as we've always thought. Georgia sucks and Greece is equally miserable, this group should be a cakewalk for the players we've got, but the team has struggled – Euro 2008 was a severe blow to focus and confidence and Eduardo's injury, among others, have hampered progress. I'm starting to think that the team lacks purpose and direction and if that's the case, it's a legitimate reason to can Bilic and everyone is right on that front.
Simply something needs to change…the players showed 0! Motivation on the field and no urgency until we were down. Kovac brothers would not have allowed something like that to ever happen. They might not have been the most talented players but they never EVER played with less than 150%….
I honestly think Srna needs to lose captaincy. If Modric is our best player our play has to go through him and give him the job of captain….I like Srna but he is just loud and vocal and obviously it isn't that encouraging the team…
I mean the funny thing is we constantly tried to play through the middle but I never saw Modric on the ball. The formation discipline was pathetic a 433 with Kranjcar top right….he dropped mid left within the first 5 minutes and never went back up there.
Bilic has to take some blame for that but you are playing with in a formation for a reason! We literally looked like we were playing with 4 defenders 4 holding mids…petric as supporting striker and Kale by himself with no service. I never knew what we were trying to do. With Rakitic, Modric, Kranjcar we play so tight and no width Srna needs to play RM imo and put in more crosses because we have no danger with playing possession and doing nothing with it. We pass it around in the back and do nothing once we are in midfield or attack. We have constantly done nothing playing possession vs these bottom sides and we create minimal chances. We have to play the old dirty way against these sides and out muscle and out play them. For Georgia we are a top side and they will give it 200% we HAVE TO match that…
Too many cooks in the kitchen!
I have been thinking for a while that maybe it's not the best to have Modric, Kranjcar and Rakitic in the same starting 11 especially if they're all jammed in the midfield.
Kranjcar and Rakitic seem very alike to me. Maybe it's just me but it seems like Rakitic is more subdued and not himself when playing with the duo.
The best I've seen Modric play is when he knows he's the one in control and pulling the strings. Yesterday he wasn't even passing accurately.
Don't get me started on the forwards, defense, and need for a defensive midfielder who can make a simple 3 foot pass. I get a headache just thinking about it!
Raptore,
couldn't agree more. doesn't matter what sport it is…if you trash talk before a game the only result you should expect is an opposition more pumped up to prove you wrong.
Rakitic did play the same way as with Sevilla!! That was the problem b/c he was supposed to be on the wing, so we have 3 sometimes 4 players playing CM.
Kovac was a great leader and we need that, it looks like our communication was really off. But why Kovac as a coach, i don't think he has ever coached??
Petric did threaten the net and they were able to play the ball off him a couple times. It should be him and Jelavic or Eduardo. We definitely didn't need Kalinic up there wasting space. But then we also don't really have a striker who dribbles. We could use Kranjcar up there creating. He does love that role. Which is why maybe its time to switch to a 4231;
Jelavic(or Petric)
Rakitic Kranjcar Ilicevic
Modric Corluka
Strinic Lovren Schildenfeld Srna
with Eduardo and Klasnic playing their super sub role as with their clubs
And Runje did dive the wrong way with no deflection, but we really don't have other options there.
After all, where else does that money go? Africa – where the vast majority of males don't know who their children are. Yeah that's a good idea, keep feeding them while the race that finances the Catholic Church is in decline.
How about the Bayern coach? Maybe one Sunday the Catholic church in Croatia can take a "second collection" and give to Van Gail to coach the national team. Perfect timing, Bayern's season will end in mid May and Croatia's next qualifying game is in June.
I think rakitic should be deployed the same way sevilla does. After all, rakitic hit the ground running at sevilla so it shouldn't be much different with a national side.
Georgia has the same # of population as Croatia, yet Croatia has all these players on big Euro clubs and to my knowledge Georgia has none. Why is that? Based on the numbers the talent pool should be about the same. Is football alot more popular in Croatia? Have Croatians been playing football for a much longer period of time? Is it genetics?
I didn't watch the game, so I cannot comment on it at all. I just heard so many "good things". I just didn't understand the tactics of Bilic through this match (The subs I was looking at on my phone)
The plus side, is that qualifying is still in our hands, and Croatia just need to beat Greece (away), which won't be an easy task. We do play Malta on the day they travel to Israel. That is some form of positive…….
As of the 29th, we could be in 3rd place. Our next game is June.4, and our players should be fairly rested, after the majority of their respective leagues are over.
change formation to 4-4-2…with eduardo and petric/klasnic/jelavic up front..this is the strikeforce which brought success in the past
Get Runje the hell out of there!!!
Him and Pletikosa are a joke!!!
ALl he had to do was make one save. Just one. And a easy one at that.
Id rather have a young goalie in there screwing things up then and old bastard! Atleast the young keeper will learn. You cant teach these old dogs new tricks!
whats with the picture of Ivan Klasnic by the way .. i don't think he's got any reason to have his head in his hands over this result .. nothing to do with him
Klasnic should have been there. He's got some guy whose done nothing in Mario Mandzukic sitting in his place.
There isn't actually any reason why Niko Kovac couldn't join the staff under Bilic. If he wants to help he could take Prosinecki's role. The fact he's mentioned when he has no real experience says it all about lack of vision of fans just now. But i must say it says something positive about Croatian pride that they are so upset at a 1-0 away loss to Georgia who are not the worse team and the guy who scored has had a strong career.
This is a good thing and shows determination to do better. I'm not sure what Bilic can do. He needs Jelavic really to step up and show what he can do until Olic comes back. Klasnic cannot start as he's not fit enough but can be useful from the bench. Eduardo also can't lead the line as has lost his physical ability to scurry around since his injury.
I don't trust Petric to turn around his game until he's benched. Kalinic really has to do better if he wants to be a starter. I think Jelavic is next to get the try.
We indeed need leadership on the field. Srna should not be captain. He just complains the whole time and does not have any class. I didnt like Niko Kovac when he played because I thought he lacked skill, but in retrospect, he provided grit and leadership, of which there is none in the present team. No one steps up, no one hustles, no one seems to be leading by example, no speed, no urgency. Modric does not appear to be that leader.
And Bilic, I think he's terrible and I've thought he was terrible for a long time.
i agree niko kovac is a good option to take over.. the kovac brothers have the leadership quality to guide this current generation of national team…
i also think putting DM is a good idea..and perhaps simunic and lovren at CB will be good…
anyway, i hope the ranking will not be affected with this loss…bcoz they are still in pot 1 now i believe…i hope they will not drop to pot 2 for world cup qualifiers by then…
anyway, is the goal deflected by lovren? or that runje dive to the wrong direction?
Bilic hvala ti za 2008, even though you did fuck up against turkey by jumping up and down instead of wasting time like the Italians do in the dying seconds. Ever since then it has been nothing but a horrible ride downhill for our NT starting with getting killed by England twice in the qualifiers, not making the world cup, and now possibly giving away a fairly easy group to qualify for Euro 2012. I'm a fan of Bilic but it's time for him to go, I'm sorry. Half of his success was also to be given to the true leader of our mini golden generation of 2008, Niko Kovac. Perhaps he can take over as coach because he knows this team very well.
We just never seem to get pumped for games against weaker teams. Everyone was a bit off and it happens. We thought it was going to be easy. Everyone was over dribbling and not playing our nice 2 touch possession game. Kranjcar hasn't played much and it showed.
But keeping Kalinic 90 mins is just stupid. Kalinic did nothing today. Lost the ball when he dribbled and couldn't hold the ball when it was played to him. Kalinic should not return to the NT unless he proves himself at Blackburn. I'd much rather have Killer come off the bench. We could have used him today.
Dujmovic did nothing impressive defensively and offensively he scared to even turn with the ball. We had Kranjcar and Rakitic coming back in the middle to pick up the ball and try playing it up. We had 4 players playing CM. I think Srna was spent more time in the offensive third then Rakitic. We need a solution for DMF and I think it should be Corluka.
Corluka is too slow as a RB and not the greatest CB. But he plays decent defense and can dribble and pass well, so why not him in DMF and Schildenfeld at CB. Corluka could even play DMF for Tottenham over Palcios too.
All the players have been on a roll lately and its a shameful loss. Hopefully this will be a wake up call. But Bilic`s tactics clearly are all over the place and changing game to game. Almost any new coach would be the better option. Why not Ladic or Vaha or Asanovic???
disgracefull is the understatement of the year, man they got what they deserved, you dont know what you got until its gone, i mean Zlatko kranjcar was a 50 times better coach then this schmuck we call bilic, he is way out of his depth as head coach, in my opionion this ship has been submerged for a long while and someone new needs to salvage the wreakage from the shit abyss.
That was the most discusting match I've ever watched. Shame on the entire team for being lazy and especially shame on Bilic for picking that lineup and strategy. Too much to list……..Strinic and Dujmovic are garbage. Defense stopped playing 15 minutes before the whistle. Today was a Typical Croatian let down. I do not blame Runje for the loss, but c'mon!!! How did he not save that? Smece.
For what it's worth, I would role with a sort of hybrid 4-3-3 formation or 4-3-2-1 formation from here on out. I truly believe this is our best line-up:
Jelavic
Kranjcar Eduardo (if healthy, if not Rakitic here)
Pranjic Modric Srna
Strinic Lovren Schildenfeld Corluka
Runje
If (big if) Vrsajlko proves to be capable, put him in Corlukas spot, kick Corluka inside to RCB and remove one of Lovren or Schildy.
One of Eduardo/Rakitic is first sub on and hopefully can play the role of "super sub."
First off, I don't want to undermine this: this result is an absolute disgrace.
I don't really "blame" Bilic per say (he has done a lot of good) in the sense that I think he is not fully culpable for this, but it is clear to me that he has lost the plot and lost this team.
Since we can't change the players much, I think he needs to go…addition by subtraction, and hopefully that can start some kind of spark or something, because this team seems rotten and unmotivated.
Also, while I think he should still be in the line-up, I would love to have the captaincy taken away from Srna. Only problem is, I don't know who to give it too…I have been a pretty big Olic hater over the years (because of all the 'sitters' he has missed), but honestly if he was still a regular player, I would just give it to him. At least the effort is always there and he seems to be generally well respected.
However, that point is moot anyways as he is sure to be slowly phased out.
Bilic, thanks for the service, but goodbye!
Gee, to think we are ranked '8th' in the world. It seems that we have this conversation about bilic every couple of months now. We need a new inspiration to lead this team. i dont care anymore, just take any čoban from the feilds, im sure they have better tactics then bilic.
Im going to be honest Folks, Its a bloody nightmare, I could not sleep all night..
Ive been busi all week, but suppossively Slaven Bilic has been talking alot of crap prior to the match, he was quoted as saying we are the far more superior team & we will definitly win in Georgia etc..
You all know what happened last time when Slaven ran his mouth at England saying England had a good league, but that was it, he did not respect Englands football on an international level, we all know the end story line, Croatia got beat to a bloody pulp..
Twice hes got murked for talking garbage, I really am getting sick of this guy, allways playing his so called favourites..Petric has done nothing for our national side & probably never will, yes he plays good at club level, but lets face it, international football is not his thing, Just as Podolski is a superstar when in a German national shirt & an ordinary striker when playing for club football, anyhow i know Bilic wont get sacked or leave himself, but the day he leaves I will salute..
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
Croatia should not be struggling in this group and this generation of players should not sit out two tournaments in a row. The players are also to blame but its the managers job to get the best out of them
I want Bilic gone, I've wanted him gone since failing to qualify for the WC but in reality he will stay. No way the HNS will sack him, only way he is going is if he resigns due to pressure.
There aren't too many hot candidates around either when talking about Croatians. I'm usually 50/50 on foreign managers because sometimes you don't know their intentions, but maybe that would be the best for now. A strong foreign manager, disciplinarian who will have a young Croatian assistant who he can groom into the role
That was no fluke or misfortune. How many Georgians were left unmarked there? The whole team is a failure, especially Bilic. The team has no soul and they are especially lazy in the later stages of games. This and the Turkey game proves it. Watching England today there are 3 limeys swarming the Welshman with the ball. They are like pitbulls attacking a bacon wrapped intruder. The Croatian players are like little lap dogs with no bite. How can the team be ranked #8 in the world? Should be #80 instead.
kalinic and petric on top… honestly petric has had one good moment for cro and that was against england. bilic cannot experiment during big games like this. i love bilic but maybe he needs an assistant coach. unbelievable loss. ali neka. croatia is overrated. plain and simple. we have no true striker. ali boze sacuvaj. even bosna won today!
@Johnny…..if you are going to blame Runje for that goal then you really have no reason to to post any more.
Every other argument is legit: Bilic, lack of leadership, tactics, quality of players…..but, the goal was not Runje's fault.
OK that's it. I have fully supported Bilic until today. Thank you for a great run in 2008, but it's time to bring in some new blood.
With the amount of quality attackers on our squad there is simply no excuse for our lack of goals. Every week in "Croatians around Europe" we see multiple players stepping up with goals and assists.
We have the talent to roll over this group and it's time we start playing like it.
It was ugly, but flukes happen and if you watch the replay you'll see that if Runje had just stood his ground he would have made a routine save instead of guessing. They'll bounce back and Srna cannot play defense lol
I've been a fan of Bilic for a long time. Seeing their display in the Euros (2008) was one of the big reason's I started following soccer. It seems though the team hasn't been the same since (sorry to bring up a bad memory)..the loss during penalties to Turkey. Some have said this should be a wake-up call….so was the Walcott hat-trick…and the woodwork-ridden matches against Ukraine…and not qualifying for the WC.
Bottomline: there is simply too much talent on this side to perform like this -and it's regular- should I look back through the past few years of posts on this blog and find the "uninspired", "couldn't finish", and "deserved to win (or score)." Croatia did not deserve to win this game…they should have. Modric cannot do this alone.